Why won't it boot up?

[bigvarn]

HI all, I have a PCG-FX502 running XP home and sp2. All of a sudden it has stopped booting up. I get the right noises and a flash from the LCDs but then all lights go out (apart from the power light) and it sits there doing nothing.

I've tried removing the battery and power supply and holfding the start button to clear the cache but has made no difference.

Anyone heard of this mefore?

Any suggestions gratefully reecived.

Cheers

[rich912]

Does the boot process get as far as the Sony logo? If so press F8 and select safe mode. From there on it will be a matter of determining which device is causing the problem.
If the boot doesn¿t get this far then it is a hardware problem. Alternatively enter the Bios, if you can, and check that the hard drive is recognised. If it is not then it may have failed but, normally, in this circumstance, you would receive a message that the operating system was not found.

[kiiyt]

The same thing happened to my PCG-FX701 yesterday; ie, no boot.
The mchine makes all the right noises, etc, powewr light on, 3 green lo lights flash, but no hdd light. It never gets to he Sony screen so cannot access anything.

Can the BIOS be accessed in this state?

[kee-lo_]

Did you two go to Windows Update yesterdayt?

[rich912]

The same thing happened to my PCG-FX701 yesterday; ie, no boot.
The mchine makes all the right noises, etc, powewr light on, 3 green lo lights flash, but no hdd light. It never gets to he Sony screen so cannot access anything.

Can the BIOS be accessed in this state? 

Try continually pressing and realising F2 from the second that you switch on. This, hopefully, will take you into the BIOS.

[kiiyt]

As far as I know, Windows Update was not visited. Another family member was using the machine when it just locked up and blanked the screen.

Now it just will not boot, so i'm not sure whether it's a corrupt BIOS, failed CPU, or failed HDD, though with a hdd problem I would have expected an initial BIOS boot including the Sony screen.

Any ideas?

[chic]

You say you are running sp2. If you downloaded and installed sp2 from the internet, get a cd and try to reinstall sp2 again

[rich912]

Now it just will not boot, so i'm not sure whether it's a corrupt BIOS, failed CPU, or failed HDD, though with a hdd problem I would have expected an initial BIOS boot including the Sony screen.

Any ideas?

I doubt that your hard disk is the problem as this would not prevent you from entering the Bios. It could possibly be a memory issue with either one of the chips or even one of the slots.
If you feel confident enough to open it up (and assuming that it is no longer under warranty) then try swapping things around. I don¿t know your memory configuration, but there will be two slots. Try leaving one blank and try all permutations with each of the chips/slots. Make sure that you disconnect the AC power adapter and remove the battery before trying this.

It is also worth trying the Reset Button which you will find recessed in a tiny hole on the underside of your notebook.

[kiiyt]

Had a look inside the other day and nothing amiss there.

Have tried reset as suggested to no avail. Memory is a single 256mb, which i have swopped to the other slot and back, but no joy.

Machine still not booting, just the power, battery & three lock lghts on initial power on, then the power and battery light remain on with no other activity.

Could it be a CPU failure?

[rich912]

Have tried reset as suggested to no avail. Memory is a single 256mb, which i have swopped to the other slot and back, but no joy.

Machine still not booting, just the power, battery & three lock lghts on initial power on, then the power and battery light remain on with no other activity.

Could it be a CPU failure?

Did you try the reset with power on?
There is always the possibllity that your single 256 chip is u/s.
It could be a CPU failure, but this sort of problem is so difficult to pinpoint without the correct diagnostic equipment.:smileysad: